


17 Years Before

by Two_Out_Of_Nine_Tails



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2020-11-27 09:16:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20945951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Two_Out_Of_Nine_Tails/pseuds/Two_Out_Of_Nine_Tails
Summary: Akira wasn't the only Wild Card to attend Shujin academy.17 years before 'The Phantom Thieves' started operating there was another group of persona users in Tokyo. This group helped solve a case of mass suicides taking place at Shujin Academy, several reasons made the group believe that these weren't just suicides, these were murders.Edit: For the sake of my terrible math can we all pretend that Persona 5 takes place in 2019? I mean it says 20XX sooo*Discontinued May rewrite later shrug*





	1. March 21st, 20XX

His parents were already at work by the time he was getting ready for school...like always. He tried to button his blazer as best as he could but kept failing, he got agitated and just left it open. He smoothed down the wrinkles in his plaid pants, he pulled on the neck of his white sweater, it felt like it was choking him. He checked the time...damn he was going to be late if he didn’t start heading to the subway. He swung his bag over his shoulder and quickly adjusted his glasses.

His parents neglected to make him breakfast, he started his walk towards the subway, his stomach rumbling.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Did you hear about what happened at Shujin?”

“Yeah, what a tragedy.”

Two housewives discussed.

“I heard she hung there for 2 weeks until a teacher found her.”

“Stop it, Nori, I don’t wanna hear about that!”

A girl in a Shujin uniform punches another male student on the shoulder, the boy just laughs it off.

“I heard it wasn’t even a Shujin student! Weird huh?”

A girl exclaimed, the male next to her nodding sleepily.

“Oh, I remember her! She was really smart, why would she do something like that?”

A student from the end of the car exclaimed to a group of chatting people. 

He tried to ignore all the gossip on the subway, he didn’t really care about the latest happenings in Tokyo. All he cared about was school, that’s all his parents had drilled into his head his whole life.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he walked into the classroom with the teacher the students were all up and chatting, very loudly.

The teacher sighed, she was a tall(tall for a Japanese woman) and thin woman, she looked quite young(he assumed this was her first year). “Now, now everyone, quiet down!” she loudly stated to the class. The students seemed reluctant but eventually quieted and sat down, they were all now peering at him and their teacher. He guessed that there being a new student piqued their interest. The teacher cleared her throat, “Firstly let me introduce myself, I’m Fujiko Hayashi your homeroom teacher for this year,” the teacher's words caused a flurry of whispering from the large group of students. “Now, let me introduce your new classmate,” she turned to look at him. “This is Tohru Adachi, a transfer student,” she stared at him, it took Adachi a moment to realize she was expecting him to say something.

“Oh, um...Hello,” he looked down at the ground, he hated everyone's eyes being on him. 

The teacher just nodded, “Now let me find a pla-”

“Hey, there’s an empty desk over!” a boy with glasses in the second row raises his hand, a bleach blonde headed girl snickers.

“Please don’t interrupt me, but anyway-” she turned back to Adachi “-your seat is over there,” she pointed to the seat next to the glasses kid. Adachi nodded, quickly making his way to the seat. He put his bag down and sat down. 

The glasses kid turned to him when Hayashi started to talk again, “Hey, I’m Nori Koizumi, it’s nice to meet you,” Koizumi smiled at Adachi, he didn’t listen to the boy, he just nodded not even looking over at the boy. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since it was the first day they stayed in homeroom the whole time. Adachi sighed in relief when the bell rang. He quickly got up and picked up his bag, so he could get out before anyone cou-

“Hey, new kid!” Koizumi suddenly appeared right next to him the bleach blonde girl in toe. 

Adachi just started at the two for a moment, he wasn’t good with socializing and he wanted to avoid this situation. “Uh...It’s Adachi,” he stated not liking being called ‘new kid’.

They both ignored him as the bleach blonde girl pushed past Koizumi, “Hey, I’m Sora Maki, I hope Koizumi over here wasn’t bothering you too much, he’s quite annoying,” she snickered as Koizumi sighed. 

“That isn’t true!” Koizumi exclaimed, Sora just continued snickering.

Sora stopped snickering and laid her hand on Koizumi’s shoulder, she looked straight at Adachi. “Anyways we were wondering if you would like to come get food with us?” She asked. 

Adachi didn’t know how to answer. It was weird on their part, who asks a random person they just met to get food with them? So he decided to come up with an excuse “Act-”

Koizumi seemed to have the tendency to interrupt people, “It’s on me.” 

“My food to right?” Sora asked leaning on Koizumi.

“Hell no! Your way richer than me!” Koizumi jerked his shoulder away from Sora making her stumble a bit.

Free food? Well, he knew his parents wouldn’t be home tonight, and due to his family just moving in there was barely any food in the house, and his parents neglected to give him any money for food. “O-okay,” he responded scratching the back of his head.

Sora seemed not to know the term ‘Personal Space’ because she proceeded to throw one of her arms over Adachi’s shoulder. “Well come on then!”

Dammit, he’s going to regret this.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sora was leaning back in her chair, an empty ramen bowl in front of her. Adachi just witnessed the girl wolf the whole bowl down in a minute, Koizumi either didn’t notice or used to it because he didn’t react to the girl's inhuman speed of eating. Sora sat back up and glanced at Adachi. “So, you like it here in Tokoyo?” Sora asked.

Adachi was quiet but didn’t want to seem socially awkward, so he answered. “Oh um, I don’t know yet, I just got here yesterday,” Adachi sputtered out.

Koizumi put down his food and swallowed, “Then how about we show around?” Koizumi asked.

Adachi wasn’t interested, he’s already wasting time he could use studying. “Uh, n-”

Sora interrupted him, “Oh, we should show him around, Shibuya!”

“Uh, act-”

“Yeah, we should,” Sora checked her watch, “We still have lots of time, let’s go!”

“Bu-”

“After all, you owe us for us getting you food!” Koizumi joked Sora nodded. Well, they got him there.

“Okay, I guess, and thank you for the food Koizumi~san,” Adachi spoke awkwardly as he adjusted his glasses back on his nose.

Koizumi just snickered a bit, “I was just joking about the food, Tohru, and please, call me Nori.” Adachi wanted to correct the boy, but at this point, he just decided to give up.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Central street was packed with people rushing to and fro, trying to find their way to the subways. Adachi somehow managed to keep close to his classmates, the two chatted to each other sometimes looking over at Adachi, wanting him to join in the conversation. Adachi wondered about the two’s relationship, he assumed they were just good friends but their friendliness towards each other could easily be interpreted as something beyond friends. Something caught Nori’s eye he quickly darted over to the storefront of an electronics store, Sora quickly followed and Adachi not wanting to stand in the middle of the street like an idiot followed as well. The three stood in front of the storefront, there was 3 tv’s each on a different channel, Nori was watching the middle television. The television was on what Adachi assumed was a figure skating competition. Nori looked amazed as he watched the young girl gracefully skate around on the ice, Sora just sighed.

“Wow, Yamasaki~chan sure has approved,” Nori turned to sora, “Don’t you think so Sora?”

Sora snarled, “Sure.” Nori turned around looking embarrassed.

Nori started stuttering out words “Oh, sorry, I di-”

Sora interrupted, “Oh, no it’s fine, but you have to admit I would have done way better than her.”

Adachi was taken back a bit. Sora was a figure skater? He would have never guessed, Sora was a tallish and lanky girl which wasn’t bad for figure skating but she seemed to be very ungraceful on her legs, while walking earlier he noticed that she shuffled her feet almost limping. “You're a-” Adachi saw Nori make an ‘x’ with his arms while mouthing ‘don’t’, Adachi ignored him “-figure skater?” Sora turned to Adachi, lacking her usual smile. Nori sighed and buried his face in his hands.

Sora sighed, sadly, “Used to.” 

The three stood there for a couple of awkward quiet seconds before it struck Adachi.  _ Used to be a figure skating. Her limping. Oh.  _ Adachi realized why Nori was motioning him to stop talking. Adachi had brought up a sensitive topic which caused awkwardness between the three. “Oh, I’m sor-”

Sora snickered, but it wasn’t genuine. “It’s fine,” she clamped her hand on his shoulder making him jump. Despite Sora’s words they still stood there in silence 

He brought his wrist up to his face, his watch read ‘6:00’. “Um, I should get going, my parents are going to be home soon.”  _ Lie. _ He needed an excuse to get out of this situation.

Sora smiled up at him, “Okay then, but hey we should hang out again.”

“Sure.”  _ Another lie. _

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was late when he got home, of course, his parents weren’t home yet. The house felt empty and very unfamiliar. Despite his meal with his strange classmates, he became hungry again. Lucky for him his parents managed to stock some ramen, he was surprised they remembered that he required food to live.

He slurped noddles on the empty dining room floor, his parents would have yelled at him for this display but they weren’t home. They were out working their asses off, pretending like they didn’t have a son at home. 


	2. March 22nd, 20xx

When Adachi came down he was greeted to his father leaning on a counter sipping coffee, purple circles underneath his eyes. He was reading a paper in his hand, he was so focused he didn’t notice his son or maybe he didn’t care to notice. He’d rather not interact with his father...then again his father probably felt the same about him. So he slowly slid his bag on his shoulder, quietly, wouldn’t want to distract the great attorney: Adachi Hikaru form his work, god forbid his son actually starting a conversation with him.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adachi wanted to audibly sigh when Nori and Sora walked into the subway car, at first he thought they wouldn’t notice him but then they turned and waved and smiled at him..._ oh no._

“Hey, Tohru!” Nori spoke loudly from across the cart. He wanted to correct Nori again.

“Oh, hello,” Adachi responded, Nori and Sora started to cross the cart. Sora was almost over to Adachi when a boy rushed past her almost knocking her down.

Sora steadied herself on Nori while cursing under her breath “Fuckin’ asshole!”.

Nori sighed looking at the group of kids the boy had rushed to, these kids didn’t wear Shujin Academy uniforms, they wore striped ties and had a star badge on their blazers. “That’s, Kosei for ya.”

Sora rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Adachi, “Hey, are you doing anything after school?” she asked, tightening her coat around her waist. 

Adachi pondered what he could say to get out of hanging out with Sora and Nori, “Um-um...probably studying.”

Nori snorted, “Dude, it’s the 2nd day of school! Why would you study?” Nori looked utterly confused.

Adachi without missing a beat responded “To get into a good university,” That’s what his parents would say.

Nori and Sora took Adachi’s response as a joke, they laughed. “Anyways, Kosei is holding a memorial for Kato Margot,” Sora spoke quieter than usual, she saw the confused look on Adachi’s face, “-you know...that girl who hung herself in the storage room at Shujin?” Adachi just nodded at Sora’s words, but honestly, he only had a slight idea of who she was talking about. He recalled people gossiping about a girl committing suicide at Shujin. “Well, Kosei invited the whole Shujin student body, Nori and I are going, would you want to go with us?” Sora asked. Well...that seems awkward...damn how can he get out of this without sounding like a dick...shit...there was no way but to accept wasn’t there.

“Uh, sure.”

“Great!” Nori smiled, the smile disappeared when Sora elbowed him in the chest. “I mean- um, cool!” Nori received another elbow to the chest.

“That wasn’t any better,” Sora hissed, Nori rolled his eyes.

“Well, what the hell am I supposed to say!”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fujiko~Sensei had a very monotone voice, this combined with the unusual quietness of the other students, this caused the usual focused Tohru eye’s to slip. He tried to catch himself every time he found his head about to hit his head, but soon the heaviness of his eyelids won. His gently fell on his desk as he slipped into sleep, not caring for the scolding he’ll get from his parents later.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he woke up his head was no longer laying on his desk, instead, his head hung over a dirty blue table, his arms were shoved behind his chair, cold metal pressed against his wrists making him unable to move them. His arms being restrained caused a minor panic to course through his body, the sound of metal clinking sounded through the room as what he assumed were handcuffs that restrained his hands clanked against the blue metal chair that he sat in. He fell asleep at his desk, where the hell was he. He lifted his head slowly to see the outline of two people, but the very bright overhead light caused him to squint behind his glasses. The outlines became clearer as his eyes adjusted to the light. They’re sitting right in front of him was a slouched down old man with a...um...an interesting nose, next to the old man was a young blonde girl...her appearance brought back certain memories but he pushed the memories back to focus on the situation in front of him. First, he had to determine if he was in danger...well that question was pretty much ‘no’, the old man looked quite weak and well...he doubted a little girl would even try to hurt him. Second, why was he handcuf-

Suddenly the young girl’s head sprung up, “Master,” her voice filled with a bit of urgency.

The old man lifted his head to smile at Adachi, “Welcome to the Velvet Room,” the man’s bizarre voice spoke.

“Huh?” Adachi was confused, as his eyes scanned the room, blue floors, and blue walls, there was a mirror behind the old man and the young girl’s head. Then it hit him. Shit. He was in what looks like an interrogation room, but why would he be here, what did he do? God, his parents were going to kill him. 

“Don’t be alarmed this is a place between mind and matter, you are fast asleep in the real world,” the old man reassured. A place between mind and matter? Fast asleep in the real world? Okay so now there's two options of what was going on, one this is just some crazy dream...that just happens to be real feeling, two he’s been kidnapped and drugged by a weird and creepy old man with a long nose and an innocent-looking little girl, Adachi tossed around points in is head and in five seconds later decided that both were quite possible. “I have summoned you to talk about an upcoming contract,” the old man continued to talk. Adachi still kept the same stance in his head. “You will enter a contract of sorts in the next few days, this contract will last a year.” Adachi just stared through the man. “The next year of your life will be filled with mystery, misery, and mistrust.” The man let out a laugh, “The events of the future seem very interesting! I can not help but to wish you luck.” Adachi just nodded, already mentally done with the conversation. “Oh, and let me introduce you to my attendant,” he gestured towards the young girl, she wore a maid uniform, butterfly’s decorated her headpiece. “This is Lavenza.”

The girl bowed her head a bit, “Nice to make your acquaintance.”

The man turned his attention quickly back to Adachi, “Now, the next time we will meet you will be in the contract...until then.” that’s when the room started to fade, the blue fading into black as he heard a voice calling out to him.

_ “Adachi~san? Ada-” _

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“-chi~san?” He heard a stern voice call his name, the composed Fujiko~Sensei, was leaning back on the desk in front of him. He quickly adjusted his glasses to look around the room, the whole classroom was empty...well looks like he was late for lunch. Fujiko just sighed and walked back to the front of the classroom. “Go to lunch,” was all Fujiko said to him. He got up and quickly made his way to the door, but before he left he turned back to Fujiko~Sensei.

“You won’t tell my parents will you?” He asked concerned, she looked at him like he was a rare breed until realizing he was serious. She shook her head ‘no’ and gestured for him to leave, she rubbed her temples as he walked out.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Dude, I’m sorry for not waking you!” Nori felt a need to explain himself as Sora snickered into her soda.

Adachi sighed and closed his book, “It’s fine,” he then glanced over to Sora who was currently sipping from her soda “Maki~San you’re not allowed to have drinks in here.” He would rather not get kicked out of the library

Sora looked surprised by Adachi’s words, “Wow that’s the most I’ve heard you talk!” Sora exclaimed, completely ignoring his words. The librarian glared at them from the front desk.

Nori gasped, “Do you think we’re starting to grow on him?” _ I hope not, Adachi thought. _

“Definitely, and anyways, why the hell are you spending lunch in the library?” Nori asked as he shifted on the table he was sitting on, causing a creak to sound throughout the library.

Adachi shrugged, “Wasn't hungry,” it technically was the truth but he also came here because he thought it was a place that Nori and Sora never step foot in...he was mistaken.

Sora sighed, “Good job Nori! You made him go back to 2-word sentences!” Sora exclaimed causing the Librarian to glare at them again. Nori and Sora obviously didn't have the vocal control to be in a library, he should probably get them out of here.

Adachi slipped his textbook back into his bag and stood up. “Why don't we hang out somewhere else?” Adachi asked, wanting to get away from the glaring librarian.

Sora and Nori stared at him, amazed that yet again he spoke more than two words to them. “Sure,” Sora smiled.

Nori’s eyes lit up, “Oh! Oh! I have the perfect place!” Nori sounded excited. Adachi was about 99% sure the librarian hates them now.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What the hell Nori!” Sora yelled, Nori had led the group to a small storage room. Judging by Sora’s reaction combined with the gossip he heard yesterday he was able to determine that this was indeed the storage room the Kosei girl committed suicide in. It boggled his mind that Nori would want to bring them here.

“Calm down Sora, it’s been cleaned. Come one it’s not like there’s still a dead body in there!” Nori exclaimed.

Sora sighed, “I’m still wouldn’t be comfortable going in there, plus-” Sora jiggles the doorknob, it appeared to be locked “-see, it’s locked!” Nori just smiled and reached behind Sora’s ear, Adachi watched confused as he watched saw Nori twist his wrist behind Sora’s ear, he drew back his hand which now had a key in it. Nori continued to smile as Sora rolled her eyes. “It’s cool the first time Nori, not cool when you do it the millionth time.”

Nori pretended to act hurt, “Your words hurt Sora, they really do,” he said as he wiped away a fake tear. He looked over at Adachi, “What about you, did you think it was cool?”

Adachi answered right away, “Not really.”

Nori acted awkward at Adachi’s response, “Well, Tohru, you sure know how to tell the brutal truth,” Nori spoke through gritted teeth. “Now, come on! Let’s go in!”

“Wait how did you get the ke-” Adachi was interrupted.

“I’m not going in there!” Sora exclaimed as she stuck to the wall

Nori crossed his arms, “I wasn’t planning for you to come,” he stuck the key in to unlock it, he looked over to Adachi, “Tohru come with me,” Nori then glanced at Sora, “You keep watch okay?”

“Wait Wh-” Sora did get a chance to respond as Nori threw the door open, dragging Adachi in by the wrist. Adachi was not used to the human contact...it made him uncomfortable.

It was a medium-sized storage room, quite dark and no light switch, the room seemed to have been heavily sprayed to cover the smell of rotting flesh, a cut off noted rope hung above them on the rafters it was most likely where they cut the noose to get her down, books and sports equipment scattered across the floor, in fact, the whole room was a mess which was very weird for a suicide. Even Nori looked surprised about the condition of the room, Adachi watched as regret passed over Nori’s face. Adachi walked over to where the body supposedly hung, there was a small box on the ground under the cut rope. Adachi stepped on the box, then it hit him. “Hey, Nori,” Nori looked over to Adachi, “Did you know her?”

Nori nodded, “Kato~San? not well, but yeah. Why?”

“What was she like?” Adachi asked, wanting to confirm his hunch.

Nori thought for a moment before responding, “I’m pretty sure she was a painter and violinist, she was ve-”

“No, no, I meant physically,” Adachi interrupted Nori, Nori looked at him confused.

Nori responded again, “She had brown hair and brown eyes.” Nori again left out the info Adachi needed.

“Height?” Adachi asked, Nori, looked even more confused.

“Huh?” Nori thought for a moment, “I don’t know specifically but she is-I mean was significantly shorter than Sora~Chan, so maybe around 5’0”,” Nori shrugged.

Adachi peered up at the rough bristles of the rope, “Hm.” That’s not po-

“Tohru!” Nori suddenly interrupted Adachi’s thought. Adachi tore his eyes away from the rope, Nori held a tiny slip of paper in his hand. 

“What?” Adachi asked, rushing over to look over Nori’s shoulder. It read 9 words that hit Adachi hard, ‘I’m sorry I was such a burden mom and dad’ the paper was signed by ‘J_Adore_Jean’.

Nori stared blankly, not even looking at the paper, he just stared at the wall. “What the hell is going on with the signature?” Nori asked, confused.

Adachi noticed black ink sank into the back of the paper. “Turn it over.” Nori didn’t seem to hear Adachi. Adachi reached for the paper, but then before Adachi could take it Nori turned it over. It read ‘C’est la vie, telle est la mor-’.

“Guy’s someone’s coming,” Sora whispered poking her head into the room. Nori’s reaction was a little delayed but Nori and Adachi somehow managed to get out and close the door as they see Fujiko take the last step. Fujiko looked tired as she sluggishly looked over to the group, “What are you three doing out here?”

Next thing that was heard was a mix of 3 very different responses 

“We were lost,” Adachi blurted out, not thinking how the response was illogical considering it’s Nori and Sora’s second year at the school.

“Uh, bathroom!” Nori blurted at the same time, his grammar didn't make sense, and why the hell would all 3 of them go to the bathroom together?.

“Getting to class,” Sora blurted at the same time too, they were at the dead-end of a hallway… they were not close to any class.

Fujiko stared at the group trying to comprehend their responses. She sighed, “You know I’m not an idiot, right?” Adachi heard Nori audibly gulp next to him. Fujiko stared daggers at them. “Listen I’ll turn a blind eye this time, BUT just this once,” Fujiko spoke, tapping her foot against the wooden floor.

Nori broke out of his fearful stance, “Yes, ma’am!” Nori quacked. Adachi and Sora justed stared as Fujiko nodded and turned on her heel.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I know this sounds bad, but I really don’t want to go,” Nori stated, earning a punch from Sora. Sora was squeezed between Nori and Adachi, the subway cart was packed with Shujin students. “What? Come on you know how bad students from Kosei are!”

“Yeah, but they’re not all that bad!” Sora exclaimed. “Kato~San was pretty nice and Kamoshida isn’t that bad!” 

Nori seemed to cringe when Sora spoke the name ‘Kamoshida’, Adachi guessed that Nori didn’t like this Kamoshida guy much. Nori then suddenly looked to Adachi, “Oh, yeah I should probably warn you about Kamoshida, see, he’s one of Sora’s track freak frie-” a wild elbow hit Nori in the stomach. 

Sora sneered, “You better watch it, String bean, you have no right to insult athletes and-” Sora turned her attention to Adachi, “Kamoshida is a good guy, we’ve run track together since elementary!” She explained. Sora’s smile slipped, “Well...at least we used to.” The three sat in silence, the awkwardness not spreading any farther than their small group.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adachi was immediately hit with anxiety as he looked around, the Kosei Auditorium was full of Shujin and Kosei students, everyone chatting quite loudly for a memorial. There were too many people and it was way too loud, Adachi already hated this. He stuck to Sora and Nori’s sides like glue as they moved through the crowd. Sora received several smiles and ‘hello’s as they walked, Nori crossed his arms, a frown spread across his face.

“Sora?!” The three glanced behind them to see a boy rushing towards them, Sora smiled at him.

Sora waved at the boy, “Hey Suguru~Kun! How’ve you been?”

Suguru’s face had a big smiled plastered on his face, “I’ve been good, you?”

Sora thought for a moment. “Not too bad.”

Suguru shifted on his feet, “How’s Shujin,” He asked. Suguru wore a black Kosei tracksuit, the jacket tied around his waist.

“Um, pretty good!” She responded shifting on her feet nervously. This conversation....seemed quite awkward.

Suguru just nodded, “Well anyway, I have to go, um, anyway, bye!” He shrugged walking off, not even giving Sora a chance to say bye.

“Told ya!” Nori joked, earning a punch in the shoulder.

As Nori chuckled, a loud booming voice went through the Auditorium. “Now, now, can everyone please quiet down, The headmaster has some words for you all.”

It took a few minutes before the quietness to spread across the room. The woman who had told them to quiet down stepped back and allowed the old man next to her to step up to the mic. “Today I have invited all of you here to honor the life of one of our most honored Student: Kato Margot.” The auditorium went from having hush whispers to eerie quietness when the headmaster spoke the girl’s name, you could hear a pin drop in there. “Unfortunately due to unknown circumstances, Kato Margot took her own life over the summer, now I’m not blaming you any of you for anything but please be careful what you say to others so that we don’t have a repeat of this incident,” you could hear faint coughs. “Anyway, Kato Margot’s death shook a lot of people, she was very important to all of us as student council president.” 

Adachi looked around at the crowd in the Auditorium, they were happy when they arrived but they just stared straight ahead or at the ground. That’s when sobs broke the silence, he looked over to the stage, a group of 4 people stood by the stairs leading up to the stage. 2 of the girls in the group just stared at the ground, shaking their heads, 1 girl was sobbing on the shoulder of a grey-haired boy, he had his arms around her, patting her back to comfort her. The headmaster cleared his throat causing Adachi to snap his attention back to the man. “Now, the student council would like to say a few words,” he looked to the group of 4 by the stage, nodding at them. They walked up the stage slowly, the girl who was being held by the gray-haired boy was still sobbing as she climbed the steps.

The grey-haired boy and one of the composed girls came up to the mic. The gray-haired boy cleared his throat before speaking, “Hello, and first, let me say thanks to the Shujin students who showed up, it means a lot.” the girl next to him nodded, “I’m Mori Jiro the new student council Vice-president, and this is-”

“Kimura Kaya, Student council secretary,” The girl interrupted. “Our new-student council president, Sato Yamato was supposed to say some words, but you know I guess he had something better to d-” Mori interrupted Kimura’s words by covering the mic...but he did a bad job at it and the auditorium could still hear the conversation.

“Do you have to do this right now?” Mori whispered as Kimura rolled her eyes.

“Come on J~San, you know him, he’s such an asshole!” Kimura’s words caused the headmaster’s eyes to go big. Whispering broke out through the crowd.

“What a bitch.”

“How can she say that about Yamato-Senpai?”

“She’s probably just jealous.”

The headmaster quickly ran up to the mic pushing past Mori and Kimura, “Well, that’s quite enough.” He turned to the two students, murmuring something, causing the student council members to lower their head and walk off the stage, the whole Kosei Student body stared daggers at Kimura.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what’s the deal with Kimura?” Nori asked as the three walked down the Kosei hall.

Sora shrugged, “I’m not sure, I never knew her well.”

“Sato?”

“He was student council vice president, he seemed pretty nice to me.” She shrugged again.

“Hmm,” Nori glanced around the hall. Adachi was a bit confused by the conversation, glancing at Sora who immediately understood the glance.

“Oh, I used to go to school here,” Sora stated, Adachi just nodded. 

*Brrrrhhhg, brrrrhhhg* “Huh?” Adachi pulled out the vibrating phone out of his pocket. The caller id read “Tokiko Adachi,” he audibly sighed. He looked to Sora and Nori, “I have to answer this real quick, I’ll be right back,” The two nodded. He quickly answered the phone, “Hell-”

“If it’s private, you can go to the library and take it, it’s right behind you,” Sora stated, pointing to the door behind him. 

“Hold on,” He quickly opened the door and shuffled in, the lights were off, he didn’t care. “Toki-”

“Where the hell are you?” His sister practically yelled in his ear. God, how is he supposed to respond to that?

“Um, I’m at the school library, studying,” The perfect excuse for his oh so ‘perfect’ family.

“This late?” She asked.

“I lost track of time,” He lied again.

“Well, mom and dad have been home for an hour, and they started to worry that you weren’t home yet,” Tokiko responded.

_ Doubt. _“Well, tell them I’ll be home in a bit.”

Tokiko sighed, “Fine.”

“Okay by-” She hung up before he could finish. He sighed and looked around the dark empty library. It was a lot bigger than the Shujin library and had a lot more bookshelves. Suddenly the ‘Gr-gr-gr-gr-gr’ sound of something spinning broke out throughout the library. “Hm?” the sound was coming from the back of the library. His legs moved before he could stop himself, he went down the aisle of bookshelves. The sound getting louder as he got closer. The back of the library was a wall of computers, something Shujin lacked. All the computers were off except one at the very end, the screen was bright in contrast to the darkroom. A coin-like object spun in front of the computer, there was nobody in sight. The sight gave him a chill, he walked up to the computer. He laid his hand on the coin to stop the spinning, he snatched the coin up in his hand. It wasn’t any type of currency he’s ever seen, it was a medium-sized coin, glass in the middle surrounded by metal. He then turned his attention to the computer screen, it was logged in already, a chat log was open. Adachi leaned forward to read the screen:

**Yannick:** Who?

**Vrai**: Kimura

**Zachalie: **Good idea, especially after what at the assembly she is a good choice

**Yannick: **Huh?

**Vrai:** I’ll tell ya later kay? :3

**Zachalie: **It’s not important rn, rmbr, “C’est la vie, telle est la mort”

**Yannick: **I’m not an idio-

“Adachi?” The sudden voice broke Adachi’s eyes from the screen. He stepped back, foot landing on something other than ground. Sora and Nori were standing at the bookshelf behind him, looking concerned. “You’ve been in here for a while, we got a bit concerned,” Sora explained. Adachi wasn’t sure what facial expression he had currently, but whatever it was it made Sora more concerned, “Is something wrong?”

Adachi pointed over to the screen, Sora looked at the screen then back at him, more concerned. He glanced at the screen, it was off. He glanced down at his feet...he was standing on the switch to the extension cord that was powering the row of computers. He scratched the back of his head, “Never mind.”

“Hmm,” Nori stared at him, “No offense Tohru, but you’re a little strange.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before he could get away from Nori and Sora to start his death march home, Sora shoved a paper in his hand, he looked at her questionably. “It’s my phone number, call me if you want to hang out tomorrow with me and Nori, Kay?” She asked, smiling. He just nodded and quickly walked away.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Why were you out so late?”

“Where have you been?”

“Why didn’t you call us?”

His parents asked none of those questions they just sat, unamused eating dinner.

His mind wandered as he walked past them, to get to his room. They didn’t say anything. 

He couldn’t help but to think about the chat log, the box, the note. He can’t get involved in this kind of stuff, he can’t get distracted from school...but something was going on with Kosei...and it was going to bother him if he never finds out.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're curious my doc name for this was "Adachi's a Wild Card Change My Mind."
> 
> Come attack me on Tumblr:  
[NikoIsNotOkay](https://friendlywriterboynamedniko.tumblr.com/)


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